Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Crowded House tix PRE-SALE going on now! For the show w/ Fountains of Wayne on 8/22 at the Fillmore.

Air Force Academy graduation was today. If you go here or here quickly now, you can see some of the great photographs of the tradition of Thunderbirds flying overhead as cadets toss their hats in the air as graduates. Then read this to find out how that moment comes together with precision each year.

People's Fair is this weekend in Civic Center Park. Right now Tifah is scheduled to play 2:30 Saturday on the main stage.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Austin City Limits Music Festival is Sept. 14-16, but right here in our own backyard is the first Monolith Festival, Sept. 14-15 at Red Rocks. Some bands are skedded to hit both, like Spoon, The Decemberists, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Broken West, Ghostland Observatory.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

It was a full house for Tim Finn (of Crowded House and Split Enz) @ the Walnut Room on Friday night. Sold out. Though no one was checking tickets for the back room after the concert started, so you could've gotten in without a ticket. Like listening to a blast from the past in Tim Finn's living room -- not a full band. Anyway, Crowded House is set to play Aug. 22 (a Wednesday) in Denver at the Fillmore. TIX ON SALE JUNE 2.

:::This::: has nothing to do with anything. It's just a shocking story of a woman dying in an ER while no one at the hospital cared for her.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Man Man plays FREE Saturday at Urban Outfitters in Boulder, 5/19 at 8 p.m. Go here to find an invite. First come, first serve to get in, but you must have one of those evite thingies. It's a Freeyrradio event for KGNU. You lucky Santa Cruz-ers get Rogue Wave on 5/25

And just a look back for a brief moment: Bjork in her rainbow Technicolor dreamdress was at Red Rocks, with laser lights, pyrotechnics and the Icelandic brass choir backing her up, dressed in neon, glow-in-the-dark poofy onesies. Started the show with a bang, went out in a flash of lasers, it was cool and it didn't rain. Bonus.

Monday, May 14, 2007

The Tattered Cover has more meet-n-greets w/ authors coming up. Here's just a few of note:

_ 6/8, @ Tattered Cover on Colfax :: Catherine Mabe, aka Jayne Manslaughter, one of the founders of Denver's own Rocky Mountain Rollergirls, w/ her new book, "Roller Derby: The History and All Girl Revival of the Greatest Sport on Wheels."

_6/11, 7:30 p.m., @ Tattered Cover in LoDo :: Joyce Carol Oates :: She'll read from and sign her new novel "The Gravedigger's Daughter." Free, but you need a ticket, available at 6:30 p.m.

_ 6/12, 7:30 p.m. @ LoDo :: Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated :: Reilly will discuss and sign his new collection "Hate Mail from Cheerleaders and Other Adventures from the Life of Reilly." Free tickets available at 6:30 pm

_ 6/20, 7:30 p.m. @ TC in Highlands Ranch :: Robert Kurson ("Shadow Divers") reads from his new book about blind athlete and CIA employee Mike May, who decided to undergo srugery to restore his vision.

_ 6/21, 7:30 p.m. @ Colfax :: Jim Sheeler :: Sheeler, who won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2006 while working for the Rocky Mountain News, will read from and sign his new collection "Obit: Inspiring Stories of Ordinary People Who Led Extraordinary Lives." (Before winning the Pulitzer at the Rocky, Sheeler wrote amazingly crafted obits for The Denver Post, which decided not to move him from freelance to staff. Whoops!)

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Sorry for the lack of posts. ATT was in town, so we've been stuffing our faces.Wednesday night was Sputnik (next to the Hi-Dive at Ellsworth and Broadway), where we had the yummy sweet potato fries with ketchup, banana ketchup and ranch as our sauces. Quite addictive. We also got the banana fritters, which our server told us is not going to be served there much longer. Fine by me. The fritters are fine but nothing special.

Thursday night we went to Frasca for the pork loin (serves two), sorrel soup (a chilled soup, with King salmon and potato in it...not for everyone but if you know you like sorrel...) and crispy Hawaiian sea bass with arugula (like fish and chips!). Paired with a very yummy Riesling. I didn't get the details. We were going to walk around Pearl Street after but instead went home to avoid a coming storm.

Back in Denver, we stopped at City O'City, (13th and Sherman) the bar/coffeehouse/vegetarian pizza shop in the former space of WaterCourse Foods. Owned by the same people. City O'City has just been added to my list of favorite bars in Denver. There's a wide bar to sit and eat or spread out a newspaper without feeling like you're infringing on someone else's space or the bartender's. There are booths along the wall like at a bar, tables like at a restaurant and some couches and a floor lamp to sit under like at a coffeeshop. Same vibe as at WaterCourse. Anyway.

Friday lunch was at Limon (17th and Franklin), which is expanding, by the way. The setting is all comfy, dark woods, dark red paint on the walls, banquettes with fluffy pillows. The food is Peruvian, with lots of kick, colorful presentations. We had plaintain chips with passionfruit aioli. From the Causa selections (potato cake with fillings, served cold), we had the Limena (chicken, scallions, avacado and tomatoes) ... refreshing choice for hot weather. I'd be curious to try the cured tuna one with garlic oil and Limon salsa. We also had Locro Serrano con granos andinos y queso (stew of squash, Andean grains, cheese,olives and garlic rice, w/ a fried egg on top). The cheese was a great part of the dish. There's quite a bit of kick to the dish.

The highlight of the whole gorge fest for me was Fruition! The spring menu is out now. We had the seared Alaskan halibut cheeks w/ zucchini squash tagliolini (great texture and flavors), and the house cured pork belly. Both were a bit on the salty side, so you had to get a big spoonful of sauce or eat w/ bread. But the appetizers whet the appetite for the main courses. (Like the guy at the table behind us said, "if the main courses are as good as the appetizers, i'm in heaven!") and YUM, we had the pan roasted petrale sole w/ Pine-Nut Crusted, Braised Baby Artichokes, Lemon-Truffle Hollandaise. ATT really liked the artichoke flavor she was getting. It was a big hit of the evening for other diners around us as well. We also had Maple Leaf Farms duck breast, w/ duck prosciutto, arugula, risotto and red onion marmalade. You have to get a little bit of everything in one bite because the flavors , textures, etc all go so well together. We were not planning on having dessert here at all. At all! But we got tempted by the lemon meringue w/ blueberries, which went great w/ the light graham cracker crust of the meringue, yum. ATT liked how attentive the service was and thought Maitre d’ Paul Attardi was very nice. So there.

Then we went to Luca D'Italia, hahaha, for more dessert. We had the deconstructed tiramisu (coffee custard pudding -- so the basic tiramisu flavors but they're served in a glass, with a ladyfingers), plus the pear crostada with ginger gelato. The crostada is amazing. Served warm, it's got the perfect pastry construction, dusted w/ powdered sugar. Favorite dessert here by far. We also tried the rice pudding with strawberries now and basil. and the amaretti!!!!

At this point I was extremely stuffed ... not quite "quail full" ... I could still breathe at least. I won't have to eat again for 3 days.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

The Fratellis were supposed to play @ the Bluebird tomorrow, 5/2, but according to their Web site, looks like the show is canceled...

On 5/17, Denver-based ManiaTV.com starts airing Dave Navarro's new online talk/music show from Hollywood's Dragonfly nightclub, near Dave's house. Should be on 6 p.m. MDT. Weekly.

UPDATE: The Horrors won't be touring w/ BRMC but are doing some dates on their own. Details on their Myspace page. AND Black Rebel Motorcycle Club plays 5/17 in Denver with THE HORRORS, whose new album "Strange House" is out this month. I've heard the album, and thanks to the magic of MySpace, you can hear for yourself what they sound like. It's straight-ahead, high energy RAWK, M@ch!nes! NoIse! ElECTR!c! bwaaaah! Soundtrack to a wacky sprint through a garage punk haunted house. The best treat may be seeing them live. If you've heard the word from SXSW, you know all about their hair, stage dives and general chaotic behavior that makes you wonder if frontman Faris Badwan is a cutter.

***We got a lovely little package in the mail from Santa Dog, plucky UK band from Bristol. They've been putting out their own EPs and spreading their music around the world these past two years. In that short time they've attracted attention from SoundsXPerience and Quince Records, which is putting out their debut, full-length album "Kittyhawk" on June 4. It includes some of the best stuff from the EPs ("Chemical" where the vocals go from ethereal to rich), plus new songs, like the first single "Big Bang," out later this month via SoundsXPerience, and "Martyr on the Ropes," fun little song for changeup rhythms and dancing along. The vocals get top attention in the recordings. I'm curious to hear what Rowena's voice sounds like at a live show, so any of you overseas who've been to a Santa Dog show, drop a comment. Anyway, til the album comes out, check out more at Santa Dog's site::here::

Finally, Boston band Ashby (duo of Evelyn and Bill from OK, Somerville, not Boston) has a spot on MySpace where you can hear that great song "Horizon" whenever you want. No idea why they only have 33 friends.

About Me

We're a bunch of hard scrabblers and stragglers doing the diy thing to tell you stories that haven't been told...or at least not in our way. Pick up your copy of Delicatessen magazine in Denver and other random locales, just about every season. For music, news, entertainment and giggles.